Experts fear lack of surveillance could see Queensland hit with mystery Covid-19 wave

With no wastewater testing and a dramatic reduction in Covid-19 tests, Queensland is facing a hidden Covid wave. It comes as NSW prepares for a widespread outbreak of cases.

Health experts fear Queensland could be in the grips of Covid-19 wave without knowing it due to a lack of surveillance, as it’s revealed Queensland Health has stopped wastewater testing for the virus.

It comes amid warnings that NSW’s next Covid wave was just weeks away.

Amid a dramatic drop in testing rates, infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin said it was “absolutely a possibility” that the state could enter the next Covid-19 wave without warning.

“The number of hospitalisations is really all we have left now. So many people aren’t testing and if they are testing with rapid antigen tests, they aren’t necessarily reporting the results. It’s really hard to know what’s happening,” he said.

Experts fear Queensland could be at risk of a hidden Covid wave. Picture: David Clark

Dr Griffin said there were still a number of Covid-19 hospitalisations around the state which indicated cases in the community, but there was nothing else to go off in regards to when the next wave would hit.

“We’ve sort of encouraged people not to get a PCR test anymore and we’re not doing the same levels of wastewater surveillance so our ability to understand the present situation is quite significantly compromised compared to where it was previously,” he said.

Wastewater monitoring for the virus stopped on September 30, according to a Queensland Health spokesman.

“The wastewater surveillance program for SARS-CoV-2 was particularly useful when vaccination rates were low and Covid-19 was not prevalent in the community because it helped to alert people in an affected area to get tested, even if they had minor symptoms,” he said.

The spokesman said the state now works with the new traffic light system which will move up, down or stay the same depending on the rate of the virus in the community at the time.

Initial comprehensive testing of more than 40 sites across the state was reduced to just 17 from the middle of 2022 before stopping entirely more than a month ago.

The sites that were still being tested this year included areas in Cairns, Charters Towers, Cooktown, Mackay, Palm Island, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast.

Infectious diseases expert Associate Professor Paul Griffin. Picture: Sarah Marshall

In the final report from Queensland Health, it showed that the virus was detected in all 17 sites for the entire quarter.

Dr Griffin said he believed wastewater testing should continue as another form of surveillance in the community.

“It gives us an indication of activity in terms of cases that are out there and what we find in the water,” he said.

“But it also tracks the new variants and the presence of those in our population. There are so many around the world, I think it’s useful to know what’s here so we can once again undertake some modelling and have a basic understanding of what’s going to happen.

“But without any surveillance, we basically have no idea.”

It comes as the NSW’s weekly Covid-19 data showed an increase in both cases recorded through PCR testing and emergency department presentations.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said that based on what was happening in other states and overseas, the state would be entering the next wave in the coming weeks.

“The protection the NSW community has from vaccination and previous infection continues to reduce the risk of severe illness,” she said.